The Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller requested a formal correction and clarification by the Los Angeles Times regarding an article posted yesterday online entitled, “Audit slams L.A. County child welfare agency for improper spending.”
According to a release from the County, the article states in the first paragraph: “Forty percent of employees at Los Angeles County’s troubled child welfare agency improperly received mileage reimbursement from taxpayers on days they did not work, according to a random sample of reimbursement reports examined by the county auditor-controller.”
The suggestion that forty percent, or some 1,200 employees, at the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) were improperly reimbursed is inaccurate and misrepresents the audit’s findings. The audit, released yesterday by the Auditor-Controller, clearly states that a sample was taken of just 20 employees — a non-scientific sample — with improper conduct found in eight cases.
“Our sample of 20 DCFS employees was a targeted assessment of people with historically higher than average amounts of mileage reimbursement requests,” said Wendy L. Watanabe, Auditor-Controller for the County of Los Angeles. “This group is in no way representative of the average requests by the 3,000 employees of DCFS approved for mileage reimbursements when they use their personal vehicles on County business.”
The Los Angeles Times added the update to their article.